NBCUniversal May Drop WWE Smackdown Live From Its TV Schedule

The last time WWE negotiated a new rights deal in 2014, the company chose to re-sign with NBC Universal to continue airing Raw and SmackDown on USA Network and SyFy respectively.

This is mainly because NBCUniversal wants to only keep Raw which will be three times more expensive than the current deal.

But now it looks like SmackDown Live will have to find a new home, as The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that NBCUniversal declined to re-up their deal with WWE for SmackDown, and the show is now being shopped to various different networks.

It has been long rumored that FOX had been looking to acquire both WWERAW and WWESmackdown once the wrestling company's current contract expires.

While that sounds like a problem for WWE, it's more of an embarassment of riches.

Interesting tidbit among all the TV news today: NBCU is letting WWESMACKDOWN go to open bidding.

NBCUni snagged the rights to SmackDown back in 2010. Presumably, that would mean that Raw would stay on the USA Network but it's possible that they could move to one of their other networks. SmackDown started airing live in May 2016, increasing the value for advertising during the wrestling show. The show now garners the sixth-biggest audience among cable originals. FOX is said to be among the networks interested in WWE programming so the show could land there. Throughout much of its existence, SmackDown has been seen as secondary to Raw, no matter how much WWE would do to present the two shows as equal.

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